The Kalevala (Oxford World's Classics) by Elias Lönnrot & Keith Bosley

Author:Elias Lönnrot & Keith Bosley [Lönnrot, Elias]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Published: 2008-10-09T04:00:00+00:00

24. Departure

Now the maid has been advised the bride instructed.

Next I’ll address my brother to my bridegroom speak by mouth: ‘Bridegroom, my splendid brother better still than a brother dearer than my mother’s child milder than my father’s child: listen while ’tis me talking ’tis me talking and speaking about this hemp-bird of yours this hen you have got!

Bridegroom, thank your luck for the good catch you have made; when you thank, thank well!

Good you got and good you found good your Creator promised good the merciful one gave: tell out thanks to the father to the mother even more

who lulled such a girl

such a bride as this!

Pure the maid you have

bright the maid you wed

white the one you hold

fair the one you keep

strong the daughter at your side and full-blooded beside you strong the daughter, a thresher charming winnower of hay

a superb washerwoman

a lively bleacher of clothes an able spinner of thread

a nimble weaver of cloth.

Her reed slammed out loud like a cuckoo on a hill

and her shuttle whizzed

like a stoat in a wood-stack and her spool whirred like a cone in a squirrel’s mouth: the village could not sleep tight nor could the townsfolk slumber for the tap of the maid’s reed for the buzz of her shuttle.

‘Bridegroom, dear youngster fair husband-to-be:

forge a scythe that’s sharp, fit it into a handle that’s good— carve in the gateway

hammer on a stump;

and when daylight comes

lead the maid on to the turf: you will see how the hay snaps the tough hay crackles

the sedge swishes down

the sorrel tumbles

a hummock goes too

and a sapling breaks.

When the next day comes

fetch a fit shuttle

a decent batten

a proper breast beam

cut handsome treadles

fetch all weaving-tools

put the maiden to the loom the batten into her grasp: only then will the reed slam the loom thud, the clanking be heard in the village

the reed’s rattle further off.

24:71–142

The hags will think about that the village women will ask: “Who is weaving cloth?”

It will suit you to answer: “My own darling is weaving my sweetheart is clattering.

Has the cloth rucked up

the reed missed a thread?”

“No, the cloth has not rucked up nor has the reed missed a thread: ’tis as though woven by Moon-daughter spun by Sun-daughter

wrought by the Great Bear’s daughter finished off by Star-daughter.”

‘Bridegroom, dear youngster fair husband-to-be:

now that you’re leaving

and driving from here

with your young maiden

beside your fair hen

don’t drag your sparrow

this hemp-bird of yours

into the bank, or

drive her into fence corners or spill her upon a stump

or tip her over on rocks!

Never in her father’s home in her fair mother’s farmyards was the maid dragged into banks driven into fence corners

spilt upon a stump

tipped over on rocks.

Bridegroom, dear youngster fair husband-to-be:

don’t lead your maiden

convey your darling

to grumble in nooks to grouse in crannies!

Never at her father’s home in her mother’s cabins did she grumble in nooks

or grouse in crannies:

she always sat at windows

tripped in the middle of floors at evenings her father’s joy at mornings mother’s darling.

Just don’t, poor bridegroom don’t you lead this hen

to the

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